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2013 Photos

Formula SAE wins Acceleration Event

SJSU's Formula SAE team recently completed student competitions in Michigan, in mid
May, and Nebraska, in late June. Here is a recap of the events from assistant team
manager, Kevin Krakauer:

"SR-5 is the fifth consecutive vehicle in our continuing development here at SJSU.
This car and the team behind it proved to be the most competitive yet, increasing
performance in almost every category over our previous designs. The Spartan Racing
team won the acceleration event in Nebraska by a long shot, setting a track and team
record of 3.950 seconds--SR-5 was the only car to break the four second mark. The
data showed a 0-60mph acceleration time of under 2.9 seconds (whereas the event is
measured from 0 to 75 meters). This got us another trophy to put in the case back
home. The student built electropneumatic shift system that allowed us to achieve that
acceleration time was noted to be one of the fastest seen at an FSAE competition,
and generated more attention from design judges and recruiters than we are familiar
with. We also received top ten placement in several other events, including business
presentation in Michigan (8th), design (7th) and autocross (10th) in Lincoln. Component
failures led to DNF (did not finish) marks in the endurance events, which reduced
our overall scores. The next iteration will focus heavily on robustness and testing
to prevent this in the future.

This sixth build is currently in the design phase, with a focus on better management
to finish manufacturing early. This will allow us more time to test and analyze data
to ensure success in 2014 by meeting all of our self-imposed technical goals. We have
some very exciting developments that will be new to the next design, and we're looking
forward to sharing it here at SJSU and hitting a home run at competition next May."